In general, a vacuum cleaner is an apparatus which mounts a dust collecting apparatus utilizing a dust bag or a dust collecting receptacle at a cleaner body so as to collect dust from a surface to be cleaned.
In the dust collecting apparatus, when the dust collecting receptacle is filled with dust by use of the vacuum cleaner for a long time, a user separates the dust collecting receptacle from the dust collecting apparatus and then performs an operation of emptying dust in a suitable place. In this case, there is a way of emptying dust through an opened upper portion of the dust collecting receptacle or a way of emptying dust by opening a dust discharge cover mounted at a lower portion of the dust collecting receptacle in terms of emptying dust.
In particular, the dust collecting apparatus, which mounts the dust discharge cover at the lower portion of the dust collecting receptacle, is equipped with a packing member between the dust discharge cover and the lower portion of the dust collecting receptacle such that dust particles collected within the dust collecting receptacle may leak to the outside.
However, when the dust discharge cover is opened in order to empty dust from the dust collecting receptacle in this conventional dust collecting apparatus, the packing member leads to friction with an inner surface of the dust collecting receptacle, and thus the dust discharge cover is not easily opened. Consequently, since an additional configuration is provided in order to move the dust discharge cover in a downward direction, there are problems which cause a complicated configuration and increase in manufacturing costs.
In addition, in the case of the conventional dust collecting apparatus, an amount of dust collected in the dust collecting receptacle is increased, and thus deformation to allow the dust discharge cover to be spaced apart from the dust collecting receptacle may be generated by weight of the increased dust. Consequently, since the packing member does not properly function as sealing, there is a problem in that dust particles collected in the dust collecting receptacle leak to the outside.